VT budget would end cold-weather motel program

A client's belongings are pictured at a Burlington warming shelter in March 2015. State officials and community agencies have tried to emphasize shelters over motels for emergency housing.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS FILE)Buy Photo

MONTPELIER - Vermont lawmakers are considering a budget that would largely end the practice of buying motel rooms for homeless Vermonters on cold winter nights.

The proposed budget, which is up for debate Thursday in the House of Representatives, would eliminate Vermont's "cold-weather exception" that relaxes housing rules in harsh weather. This year's version of the policy allows people to stay at a motel if the temperature or wind chill is less than 20 degrees, or if the temperature is below 32 degrees with expected precipitation.

The proposal would allow the state to spend up to $200,000 to pay for motel vouchers, which budget-writers say would prevent people from freezing to death on cold nights — but the program would be significantly scaled back and would no longer be an entitlement.

Vermont spent $1.8 million on the cold-weather policy in state fiscal year 2015, according to the Department for Children and Families. Last winter brought fewer chilly nights, and spending dropped to about $344,000.

"What we're going to be doing is actually focusing the money where we see the best results," said Rep. Matthew Trieber, D-Bellows Falls, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. The budget would add $150,000 in funding for shelters in the Rutland and Barre-Montpelier areas.

Lawmakers say shelters are more cost-effective and can connect people with social services.

"We really felt that giving an individual for a voucher for a motel room, locking the door behind them that night, and leaving in the morning was really not identifying a Vermonter who might be in trouble or who has needs that might need to be addressed," said Rep. Kitty Toll, D-Danville, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Rita Markley, executive director of the Committee on Temporary Shelter in Burlington, says eliminating the cold-weather exception is a troubling move.

"I am fully supportive of trying to move away from heavy reliance on motels, but it’s like shutting down an emergency room because there are promising prevention initiatives," Markley said. "We haven’t reached the point where it’s appropriate to shut down the emergency room."

Under the proposal, the state would continue to provide temporary emergency housing to victims of domestic violence, elderly and disabled Vermonters, pregnant women in their third trimester, and families with a child under age six. Those people qualify for motel rooms under catastrophic and vulnerable housing policies, which are different from the cold weather exception.

Markley says the state does not have enough shelter beds to care for people in need. She is especially worried about families with children over the age of 6, who would not qualify for emergency housing and might be forced to sleep in a car on cold nights. The COTS family shelter has a long waiting list.

"It is the very last strand of our frayed safety net, and taking it away entirely is troubling," Markley said.

The cold-weather exception was created in 2012 under Gov. Peter Shumlin. As more people relied on the program, state officials warned that motel voucher spending was "prohibitively expensive" and "not sustainable." The state Department for Children and Families began using some of their emergency housing budget to support community-based shelters.

The idea to eliminate the cold weather exception altogether — a reduction of $344,000 in next year's budget — came from state lawmakers, not from the Department for Children and Families, said DCF Deputy Commissioner Sean Brown.

Trieber, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said that because the cold weather exception is an entitlement, it can "eat up" the rest of the emergency housing budget.

"We had to look at what the outcomes were for people, and how to get the best outcomes with limited amounts of money," Trieber said.

The House of Representatives is considering a $5.8 billion budget that closes a $70 million shortfall without new taxes or fees. General fund spending would grow by 1.8 percent, and the overall state budget would increase 1 percent.

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum. Do you have a breaking news tip? Call us at 802-660-6500 or send us a post on Facebook or Twitter using #BFPTips.